Proposed winter grazing regulation changes a win for farmers

Thursday, 26 August 2021

Groundswell’s Howl of a Protest in Te Anau in July was one of more than 70 held nationwide.

Proposed winter grazing regulations deemed “unworkable” by farming groups are being reconsidered by the Government.

The Government has proposed amendments to the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management that includes doing away with compulsory sowing dates in favour of an “as soon as practical” approach.

It originally proposed all sowing of winter crops in Southland and Otago needed to be completed by November 1.

The amendment also includes getting rid of pugging and replanting date conditions, and replacing them with a requirement to protect critical source areas.

Federated Farmers president Chris Dillon said the proposed amendments demonstrated the work of Federated Farmers behind the scenes.

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The recommendations were some of those submitted by the Southern Advisory Group, consisting of two Southern farmers and industry representatives, to the Government in December 2020.

Environment Southland chairman Nicol Horrell thought the proposed amendments were good progress, but there was work to still be done on making regulations workable in Southland.

Southland Federated Farmers president Chris Dillon said common sense had prevailed and farmers would be breathing a sigh of relief after having the “threat of regulations” loom over them.

“Farmers want good outcomes on water quality, and these [the initial proposed] regulations were not going to do it,” he said.

Environment Southland chairman Nicol Horrell said he was pleased with the proposed amendments, but some were still problematic, including a proposed change which would keep the maximum threshold of slopes allowed to be using for grazing at 10 degrees.

“Some people will still need consent to get around the slope one in particular, but at least we have made good progress on some of the more problematic rules that were basically unworkable in Southland,” he said.

He was confident that the Southland Advisory Group and Environment Southland had built strong relationships with the Ministry of Environment and conversations would continue to be had around remaining regulations.

“At the end of the day we want the soil and the nutrients staying on the farm, and everybody agrees with that,” he said.

Groundswell co-founder Bryce McKenzie said the proposed amendments were a big win for the farming group that has advocated strongly against the winter grazing rules.

“This is really sensible … when the first consultation was held with us these were the very issues put to the Minister of Environment, that it was very difficult to fulfil what they’d set out,” he said.

“It’s going to be brilliant news for Southern farmers because both of those [compulsory sowing and pugging dates] were putting too much pressure on farmers and their mental health.”

In July, the group had held a nationwide “Howl of a Protest” which saw thousands of tractors and farm vehicles descend on major towns and cities throughout New Zealand in protest of some of the regulations.

Despite the good news, the group still planned to continue putting pressure on the government on other “unworkable” regulations through hold further protests in November.

Public consultation on proposed regulation amendments are open until October 7, 2021.